Attachment for mail boxes



J. R. DE MIER ATTACHMENT FOR MAIL BOXES May 10 1927. 1,628,034

Filed Feb. 11, 1926 Patented May 10, 1927.

UNITED v STATES JOHN 3. DE MIER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

ATTACHMENT FOR MAIL BOXES.

Application filed. February 11, 1926. Serial No. 87,567.-

standard with a flag thereon at the upper end, the flag being held inone position when the box is closed and having a spring tending to turnthe standard to swing the flag when the box is open.

A specific feature of my invention is an arrangement for holding thestandard and flag by a trigger arm, this arm being at tached to amovable part of the box which the postman is required to move to openthe box for the insert-ion of letters so that the standard maybereleased, thence turned by the spring to bring the signal flag intoposition to indicate to the box'owner that there is mail in the box.

My invention may be applied to a type of mail box as used for rural maildelivery or a type of mail box suitable for city delivery, in which thebox is placed on a door frame or the like. i

The characteristic features of the construction comprise a housingforming the supporting-structure for the standard, the hous ingcontaining a coiled spring adapted to rotate the standard, a fin on thestandard adapted to be engaged by the trigger arm fastened to themovable door or the like of themail box and with a flag on the upper endof the standard to give a signal to the box owner.

The signal to the postman comprises a resilient arm pivotally attachedto the flag in such a manner that it may be utilized to hold and retainletters or be swivelled to ext-end beyond the flag to indicate to thepostman that there is mail in the box.

My invention will be more readily under stood from the followingdescription and drawings, in which;

Figure 1 is a front elevation as if taken inthe direction of the arrow 1of Fig. 2, of one type of mail box, particularly adapted for ruraldelivery, with my signal attachment secured thereto.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation taken in the direction of the arrow 2 of Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail plan of the 25 as indicated dotted in Fig.2.

attachment taken in the direction of the arrow'3 of Figs. 1 or 2.

Fig. & is a longitudinal section on the line 1- 1 of Fig. 1, in thedirection of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation as if taken in the direction of the arrow 5of Fig. 6, of an alternative construction of my attachment secured to atype of box suitable for city delivery, the box being intended forsecurmg to a door post or the like. 1

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the attach: ment of Fig. 5, as if takenin the direction of the arrow 6. v V

The signal structure as shown in Figs. 1 to l is substantially asfollows: i

A housing 1 is preferably formed of sheet metal and has a back wall 2withupper and lower extensions 3, each having a slot 4 therein adaptedto be attached to a mail box or the like, one type of box beingdesignated by the numeral 5 having a flat side Wall 6. r I

The. housing 1 is preferably formed with fiat vertical side walls 7 and8 and with a curved outer wall 9. The walls of the housing are joined bya lower and upper partition 10 and 11, the partitions having apertures12 therethrough for the insertion of a standard 13. This is supported onthe lower partition by means of a collar 14.. A coiled spring 15 iswound around the. standard and has one end 16 secured to a fixed part ofthe housing, the other end 17 being secured to the standard, the springbeing normally tensioned to rotate the standard in the desired directionas hereunder set forth. v

The standard 13 is provided Witha double fin 18 having a narrow side 19and a Wide side 20, the fin being rigidly secured onthe standard and aflag 21 is rigidly secured to the upper end of the stem, preferably atright angles to the fin. This flag for the rural mail box type may be adisc inserted centrally on top of the standard. A stop 22 extendsupwardly from one of the side walls of the housing and is positioned toengage the lower portion of the wide side of the fin to stop therotation of the standard and flag as hereunderset forth.

In the type of rural mail box illustrated in Fig. 1,.a large door 23 isprovided with hinges 2% at the base, the top of the door swinging openin the direction of the arrow A small flap door 26 is hinged on somepart of the large door preferably towards the up er part as indicated bythe numeral 27. T is door is adapted to swing open at the lower portionas indicated by the arrow 28 of Fig. 2. Postmen may use either door forthe insertion of mail, or if newspapers or parcels are to be delivered,preferably opening the large door or if only letters, opening the smalldoor.

The trigger arm 29 has a straight section 30 with a slot 31 thereinextending across and secured by bolts to the flap door 26. This triggerarm preferably has a right angular bend as indicated by the numeral 32of Fig. 3 and an extension 33. This extension is sufiicient to extendbehind the narrow side 19 of the fin as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, thusholding the standard and the signal flag in a position with the flagparallel to the side of the box showing distinctly in full elevation asshown in Fig. 2. It will be understood that in this position the spring15 is tensioned normally tending to rotate the standard and flag.

The manner of operating the signal as set forth for the rural type ofmail box is substantially as follows:

If the large door is opened the trigger arm is swung forwardly therebyturning the standard by means of its engagement with the fin until thetrigger arm and the tin become disconnected when the spring will rotatethe standard and signal arm in the opposite direction until the wideside 20 of the fin engages the stop 22, thus bringing the standard andflag to rest with the flag parallel to the front of the box to indicateto the box owner that mail has been inserted. Should the postman merelyinsert letters through the small flap door 26, the trigger arm will bemoved forwardly in a similar manner sufficient to release same from thefin 19, thus giving the same signal.

In the construction of the signal as shown. in Figs. 5 and 6, thehousing and standard are of substantially the same character, exceptthat the stop. 34 is on the opposite side of the housing adjacent theback wall 35 of the box which is intended to be attached to a door postor the like. The flag 36 is attached to one side of the standard so thatfree rotation may be had.

In this type of box the box structure is designated by'the numeral 37and has a large swinging opening cover 38 pivoted at the upper rearcorner '39 of the box and having a front covering portion 40 adapted toform a closure for a front opening 41 of the box. An additional letterbox lid 42 is also secured to the same hinges 39 and is adapted to coveror close a letter slot 43 in the opening cover 38. The purpose of thisconstruction is to allow the insertion of large bundles of mail byopening the large cover or the insertion of. letters by merely swingingopen the upper cover. This type of box is sometimes locked with a staple44 having'a padlock therethrough securing the opening cover closed Insuch cases the postman can only insert mail through the slot 43. Howeverit is the general practice for householders to leave both flaps open forthe postman to insert mail.

A trigger arm 45, having a slot 46 therein is secured to the upper lid42. This trigger arm is preferably straight and is adapted to engage thenarrow portion 19 of the fin on the front side thereof and hold thestandard and signal flag in the position shown in Figs. 5 and 6 parallelto the side of the box. When either lid is opened the trigger armrotates the standard backwardly until the trigger arm and the fin 19become disengaged; the coil spring rotating the standard and flag into aposition until the wide portion 20 of the fin engages the stop 34holding theflag in a position at right angles to that of Figs. 5 and 6to indicate to the householder that mail has been inserted in the box.

The signal to the postman for mail to collect is constructedsubstantially as follows, having reference particularly to Figs. 1, 2, 5and 6:

An arm 47 of resilient material is secured at its lower end by the pivotpin 48 to either of the flags 21 or 36 and may extend verticallyupwardly behind the flag and in such position may be utilized to supportseveral letters. If there is a large amount of mail for the postman tocollect the arm will be pivoted into the horizontal position indicatedby the numeral 49 in Fig. 2 and thus extend outwardly a considerabledistance beyond the flag, indicating to the postman as he approaches thebox that there is mail for him to collect.

It will be noted that the pivot pin 48 is placed adjacent the lowerportion of the circular signal flag and in such relation that letterswill extend beyond such flag and that the arm itself may be extended ina horizontal position some distance from the flag.

It will thus be seen that my attachment comprises two types of signals,one to indicate to the box owner that mail has been inserted by thepostman and the other to indicate to the postman that there is mail tocollect.

Although my signal is of a simple character and has been illustrated asattached to two types of boxes, nevertheless it may be secured to anumber of other types, being modified to suit these differentcircumstances.

Such changes or modifications of the general construction or specificdetails would be within the spirit of my invention as set forth in thedescription, drawings and claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A mail box signal comprising in combination a vertical housingadapted to be at- 3 tached to one side of a mail box, a verticalstandard journaled in and extending upwardly from the housing, a signalflag on the upper end of the standard, a trigger arm adapted to beattached to a door or lid of a mail box, a spring coiled on thestandard, normally tensioned to rotate the standard in one direction onits axis, the trigger arm being adapted to restrain the standard fromsuch rotation and to release the standard on the movement of the triggerarm with the door or lid, whereby the spring may rotate the standard andflag to one signalling position, the standard being provided with a fin,one portion of the fin being adapted to engage a trigger, and a stop onthe housing adapted to engage another portion of the fin.

2. A signal attachment for a mail box comprising in combination ahousing having vertical walls, one of said walls being adapted to'beadjustably attached to a mail box, a plurality of transverse partitionsbetween the walls, a standard journaled in said partitions, a coiledspring in the housing connected to the housing and the standard normallytensioned to rotate the standard in one direction, a flag attached tothe upper end of the standard, a double fin attached to the standard anda trigger arm adapted to be adjustably attached to a door or lid of amail box, the trigger arm being adapted to engage one of the double finsto restrain the standard from rotation and to release the fin on themovement of the trigger arm with the door or lid.

3. A signal attachment for mail boxes as claimed in claim 2, having inaddition a stop extending upwardly from one of the side walls of thehousing, said stop being positioned to engage a wide side of the doublefin and to stop the rotation of the standard and flag.

4. A. signal attachment for a mail box as claimed in claim 2, having inaddition an arm of resilient material pivotally mounted on the flag, thearm being adapted in one position to hold letters between same and theflag and in another position to extend outwardly beyond the flag.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN R. DE MIER.

